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Extreme Training Camp - Parrillo Performance

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JOHN PARRILLO’S PERFORMANCE PRESS<br />

Mike Ferguson<br />

to be an also-ran. “My goal had always<br />

been to place at least 5 th in my<br />

class.” In the NPC only the top five<br />

in each division are allowed to pose<br />

on the final night when the champions<br />

are crowned. Before this year’s<br />

show and at John’s insistence Mike<br />

added back the carbs and upped his<br />

caloric intake – dramatically. “I was<br />

eating 6,000 calories a day in the<br />

weeks leading up to the show and<br />

5,000 calories right up to the competition.<br />

In years gone by I would<br />

have competed looking thin, gaunt<br />

and starved; this year<br />

taking John’s advice<br />

I looked full, thick<br />

and powerful. I tell<br />

the world that John<br />

<strong>Parrillo</strong> is my mentor.<br />

As much as I trust<br />

him, for some reason<br />

I started listening to<br />

another nutritional<br />

expert. Call me crazy.<br />

In the end it was<br />

John’s advice that<br />

pushed me through<br />

to the win.” When<br />

we asked Mike what<br />

the biggest single lesson<br />

he had learned in<br />

his long bodybuilding<br />

career he replied<br />

without a second’s<br />

hesitation. “To listen<br />

to John <strong>Parrillo</strong>; John<br />

<strong>Parrillo</strong> is a genius<br />

and I was an idiot to<br />

stray from his approach.”<br />

Mike “carbed up”<br />

prior to prejudging<br />

by eating 350 grams<br />

of dry potatoes every<br />

hour on the hour<br />

for eighteen straight<br />

hours. “I weighed<br />

in on Thursday at 220 pounds: by<br />

the prejudging on Friday I likely<br />

weighed 228-230 and looked way<br />

harder, fuller and thicker. I amazed<br />

myself. It was incredible.” At the<br />

prejudging his wife Marcia told him<br />

she thought he could win. “It never<br />

dawned on me that I could win my<br />

class much less win the overall over-<br />

60 title.” In Mike’s opinion there<br />

were at least two other competitors in<br />

his class that were better. “After the<br />

prejudging I told my wife that there<br />

are two guys that will come in ahead<br />

Photo by Dan Ray<br />

“My goal had always been to place<br />

at least 5 th in my class.”<br />

of me; they were too big compared<br />

to me, and I won’t be able to overcome<br />

their obvious size advantage.<br />

She disagreed. ‘Mike, your legs are<br />

rock hard and they are not that much<br />

bigger than you. You can win this<br />

year.” Mike felt that perhaps that was<br />

wishful thinking until one seasoned<br />

backstage expeditor approached him<br />

and said, ‘Mike, you look fantastic;<br />

your legs are the best in the class and<br />

they are going to make the difference;<br />

stay tight, emphasize your legs<br />

and you can win this year.’<br />

Knowledgeable onlookers that had<br />

been involved in promoting the<br />

show for years approached him and<br />

Photo by Dan Ray<br />

“In the end it was John’s<br />

advice that pushed me<br />

through to the win.”<br />

asked, “Mike – what did you do<br />

different this year? In the past you<br />

always come in lean and stringy.<br />

This year you are a new man,’ Mike<br />

responded, “I told them that I ate<br />

and I ate and I ate and I did exactly<br />

what <strong>Parrillo</strong> told me to do.” After<br />

the prejudging and in the day before<br />

the show, every hour on the hour for<br />

ten straight hours “I ate 255 grams<br />

of dry sweet potato, 100 grams of<br />

chicken and four rice cakes – and no<br />

liquid.” As this grueling procedure<br />

went on, “I would check myself out<br />

in the mirror and note how I was improving:<br />

it was amazing. I thought to<br />

myself, ‘Hey this is going to work!’”<br />

Mike’s first shock was when he was<br />

announced as the class winner. Before<br />

the pose-down to determine the<br />

overall Master’s over-60 winner, he<br />

sized up the middleweight winner<br />

and thought ‘there is no way I can<br />

beat that guy.” During the posedown<br />

for the overall title the head<br />

judge kept telling the class winners,<br />

“Okay men this is very, very close<br />

and we need some more poses.”<br />

When he stood onstage on Saturday<br />

night and was announced as the<br />

overall winner, “I grabbed my head<br />

in disbelief and said to myself, ‘You<br />

have got to be kidding me.’” After<br />

the contest was over and he had a little<br />

time to reflect he thought, ‘I wonder<br />

how many opportunities to dramatically<br />

improve my competitive<br />

placing in years gone by had slipped<br />

through my fingers by not listening<br />

to <strong>Parrillo</strong>.” To make a great weekend<br />

even better, on Friday evening at<br />

the same competition one of Mike’s<br />

students won her Pro Card. In the<br />

weeks leading up to the show Mike<br />

was eating 6,000 calories a day:<br />

meals would consist of 15 ounces<br />

of chicken per meal along with 22<br />

ounces of plain white potatoes and<br />

all the green vegetables he could<br />

eat. Incredibly he would consume<br />

an entire canister of <strong>Parrillo</strong> Hi-Protein<br />

every single day! “I would<br />

wake up twice during the night to<br />

drink huge <strong>Parrillo</strong> shakes.” In addition<br />

to taking in 400-500 grams<br />

of protein each and every day, Mike<br />

would take his <strong>Parrillo</strong> Pills with<br />

each of his meals. “<strong>Parrillo</strong> makes<br />

the best supplements on the market.”<br />

Asked for any final thoughts the<br />

plain spoken Pro Card holder was<br />

adamant: “John <strong>Parrillo</strong> taught me<br />

everything I know!”<br />

John <strong>Parrillo</strong> says:<br />

That last statement by Mike is a<br />

running joke between Mike and<br />

myself. Whenever I get on<br />

Mike for all the “goodwill”<br />

training he does, he reminds me<br />

of all the “goodwill” training<br />

that I have done and says “I’ve<br />

learned everything from you<br />

<strong>Parrillo</strong>”.<br />

Mike is one of the top trainers<br />

in the country. He trains Rich<br />

Franklin as well as a host of other<br />

top MMA professional fighters,<br />

including Jorge Gurgel, Zoila<br />

Frostos-Gargel, Marcus Davis,<br />

Tim Silvia, Joe Riggs and the<br />

King of Cage Middleweight<br />

Champ Billy Asayash. He also<br />

trains powerlifters Cris Smith,<br />

Scott Schaefer and Bruce<br />

Mullins, as well as national level<br />

bodybuilder Drew Smith and<br />

pro bodybuilder Amy Sibcy. He<br />

runs one of this nation’s Premier<br />

hardcore gyms, Powerstation<br />

gym in Middletown Ohio.<br />

Over 30 of his members bench<br />

press over 600 pounds. That’s<br />

hardcore.<br />

Mike is an exceptional person<br />

in all that he does. You can always<br />

count on Mike to be there whether<br />

it be to push you through a killer<br />

workout or to set up the pump room<br />

at the latest bodybuilding contest.<br />

Mike gives and gives and gives and<br />

nobody, I mean nobody deserved<br />

to win his pro card more than Mike<br />

Ferguson. It’s been frustrating<br />

through the years to see Mike train so<br />

hard and diet so strictly only to under<br />

eat the last couple weeks coming into<br />

a contest and not look nearly good as<br />

he could have. If Mike gives me any<br />

credit at all it’s more that I deserve.<br />

Now if we can only get him to work<br />

on his presentation. We love you<br />

Mike. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!<br />

Photo by Dan Ray<br />

“I would check myself out in the mirror<br />

and note how I was improving: it was<br />

amazing. I thought to myself,<br />

‘Hey this is going to work!’”<br />

October 2011 / <strong>Performance</strong> Press 1-800-344-3404 www.parrillo.com www.parrillo.com 1-800-344-3404 <strong>Performance</strong> Press / October 2011

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